| Jeff Poulter & Graham Tillotson: 1st September 2004 |
|
San Jose - The town
We've arrived in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose. We're lucky to be here since the local truck drivers have taken a leaf from the French camion-pilotes book and decided that their strike action against the high cost of running their trucks will take the form of barricading the capital. So every approach road is blocked 20-30km out of the centre. Nothing goes in or out. When we first arrived at the beginning of the queue we stopped to ask the problem and a dejected bunch of truckers and drivers told us that they had been waiting there over 24 hours without food and were thoroughly pissed off. I can understand that. We spoke to a copper who didn't know exactly what was going on at the blockade so he let us through. GT and I had agreed a story that our wives were flying in this afternoon and that we had to be there to meet them because they would be frightened and lost without us. Seemed reasonable. If that didn't work, to fall on our knees and start crying. The other thing we decided was always to clap and cheer anyone who approached us so it looked as if we were supporting the strike. With this plan we set off slowly towards the front of the queue, weaving our way through miles and miles of trucks, cars, buses - all sorts. As we were doing so, people were waving us back saying that we couldn't get through but we persevered. We went through one blockade after another, cheering and clapping (difficult on a bike) and never had to use the lost wives story: they just let us through and cheered and clapped. Eventually all the stopped traffic was on the other side of the road and we were free! In all we passed 16km of jams.
Find a Hotel
And it still hasn't ended yet. A few moments ago a couple arrived in this hotel complaining that they had spent 10 hours trying to get out and failed and had given up the ghost. Let's hope that they solve the problem in a couple of days before we have to leave! As ever, the biggest pain in the rear is finding suitable hotels and we seemingly spent hours riding around the town looking and rejecting.
Honda Dealer Hero's
Getting fed up we passed a Honda dealer and, as we needed to have the oil
and filters changed on the bike anyway, we decide to drop in the see when
we could book in the bikes. After several halting conversations with various
people, the head of the workshop appeared and offered to help. It would
be difficult for him to book the bikes in because they were so busy and,
just as we were looking dejected, he said "so what you need to do
is buy your oil and filters from the parts department here, bring them
over to the workshop and we'll change them for you, free of charge"
Which is what happened. He pulled a couple of mechanics off other jobs
and set them to do the work immediately. Not only did they change the oil
and filters, they also lubricated our cables, adjusted Graham's chain and
even washed down the engines! Amazing. This bloke simply could not have
been nicer or more generous. In a couple of hours we were on our way. Isn't
that terrific? Bleedin' 'ero, I say.
So our pretty good perceptions of Costa Rica have been further boosted. We're looking forward to exploring the town tomorrow and a friend of Graham's has sent details of a contact in the town, so we may see even more of it.
Jeff 01.09.04 |
|
